Paul Collier Last week, we solicited your questions for award-winning Oxford University economist Paul Collier, author of The Bottom Billion and the just-published Wars, Guns, and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous…
In the American Dream sweepstakes, Andrew Yang was a pretty big winner. But for every winner, he came to realize, there are thousands upon thousands of losers — a “war…
She spent nearly a decade as an undercover C.I.A. operative working to prevent terrorism. More recently, she hosted The Business of Drugs on Netflix. Amaryllis Fox — now Kennedy —…
…Council of Economic Advisers and as chief economist for the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. He is (in no particular order): brainy, talkative, excitable, and fully engaged in just about…
Here’s an interesting article by a man who says he has slept with over 1,300 prostitutes. If he were an economist, he would have kept track of the data and…
Who better than an economist to help with your shopping list?
…nonetheless as a prelude to Frank’s book, which I’m eager to read. So here’s our SuperFreakonomics outtake on Darwin-as-economist. On May 24, 1859, the noted English zoologist, surgeon, and author…
Christina Romer was a top White House economist during the Great Recession. As a researcher, she specializes in the Great Depression. She tells us what those disasters can (and can’t)…
What does it mean to pursue something that everyone else thinks is nuts? And what does it take to succeed?
I love Google. But it’s not a very good economist. Type “unemployment rate,” and here’s what it yields: The first of these links is from Google, and it tells…
…of the Freakonomics Radio Book Club, the historian Richard Cockett explores all those ideas — and how the arrival of fascism can ruin in a few years what took generations…
Yale’s business school just published an interesting interview with Betsey Stevenson-my favorite economist. And yes, the usual disclosure applies: this is partly because she’s an interesting coauthor and colleague, but…
We recently solicited your questions for Cornell economist Robert Frank, whose new book, The Darwin Economy: Liberty, Competition, and the Common Good, argues (among other things) that competition has made…
We spend billions on end-of-life healthcare that doesn’t do much good. So what if a patient could forego the standard treatment and get a cash rebate instead?
Forbes profiles the formidable Al Roth, a Freakonomics favorite, by setting him apart from all the trivial things we write about here: “In contrast with the authors of bestselling books…
Artist Wendy MacNaughton knows the difficulty of sitting in silence and the power of having fun. She explains to Steve the lessons she’s gleaned from drawing hospice residents, working in…
More well-deserved attention for University of Chicago economist John List, whose research is the star of Chapter 3 of SuperFreakonomics and also featured in the last segment of the Freakonomics…
Back in 2007, we had a lively debate around a series of excerpts that Cornell economist Robert Frank contributed to the Freakonomics blog. We’re hoping an excerpt from his latest…
New research finds that bosses who went to business school pay their workers less. So what are M.B.A. programs teaching — and should they stop?…
Photo: Adam Pieniazek We’ve written a lot about University of Chicago economist Kevin Murphy. He teaches at the Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory, where Steve Levitt is the director….
Last week, I learned two important things. They both happened as the result of a post I wrote about various errors, typographical and otherwise. I noted that the excellent Economist…
Jim Yong Kim has an unorthodox background for a World Bank president — and his reign thus far is just as unorthodox.
…historian Niall Ferguson interprets this as indicating that the bond market is worried about the U.S. deficit and the prospect of inflation. Princeton economist Paul Krugman thinks it indicates that…
…may well arise at some point. If this happens, the policy “mistake” of interest rates being too low in 2010 could be easily undone by higher interest rates in 2011….
The Pittsburgh Steelers played in this year’s Super Bowl, but did not win it. Which means that, sitting in a warehouse somewhere, are lots of preprinted “Pittsburgh Steelers 2011 Super…
VCU teammates celebrate their win over Purdue during the third round of the 2011 NCAA men’s basketball tournament at the United Center on March 20, 2011 in Chicago. (Photo by…
…what the various Brookings economists are up to. This morning’s edition (written by Daniel Moskowitz) was priceless: Good enough I thought worth sharing with the wider world. (Hint: Check the…
…to formally announce a run for President before midnight ET on 31 Dec 2011: 41.9% 4. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to no longer be President of Iran before midnight ET 31 Dec…
…on July 31, 2011: 40% (It was 65% a month ago) – Congress to approve increase in U.S. debt ceiling before midnight Aug. 31, 2011: 75% (It was 85% a…
…the average of “substantially similar” cars. Thus, according to the DOE, a maker of the 28-MPG 2011 Toyota Highlander Hybrid holds a “green-collar job,” but the maker of a 41-MPG…
